As one of the most populated districts in Manhattan, Times Square has been the sight of many major battles between superhuman opponents. On November 14th, 1940, young Steve Rogers went to a movie theater in Times Square where he saw newsreel footage of the atrocities taking place in NaziGermany. Enraged by what he had seen, he dashed off to join the U.S. Army, only to be rejected as 4F.[1]

Years ago, after participating in an adventure in Asgard, Odin sent the Hulk back to Earth where he arrived in Times Square. Though he wanted nothing more than to be left alone, the Hulk ultimately found himself in combat against military forces. This was not the first of such encounters for the green behemoth, and it would certainly not be the last time that visitors to Times Square would witness wanton displays of violence by the Hulk.[2]

During a New Year's celebration, the futuristic warrior woman Thundra came to this era to publicly challenge the Thing to a trial by combat. To guarantee the Thing's cooperation, she kidnapped his girlfriend Alicia Masters.[3]

Soon after, a great Stone Ship piloted by the formerly exiled hero the Hulk appeared in the sky over Times Square. The Hulk, bent on revenge against those whom he blamed for the death of his wife and child, warned everyone to evacuate the city or else they would suffer his anger. Several heroes, including Iron Man, arrived in Times Square in the hopes of preventing an event that would come to be known as "World War Hulk".[5]

At this same time, Times Square was also attacked by a massive contingent of Super-Skrull invaders. Nearly every registered member of the Initiative fought valiantly to repel the invaders, but suffered great losses in the ensuing carnage.[7]

After arriving in the Heroic Age, Qweeg found himself in Times Square. Awestruck, he stepped in front of a bus. After regaining consciousness, he shot the responding NYPD officers as Captain America and Spider-Man (Miguel O'Hara) rushed to the scene. A skirmish ensued, and they eventually defeated the cyborg only to be thwarted by the sudden arrival of Aisa and the forces of Fist, who distracted the heroes long enough to escape and recruit Qweeg into their terrorist organization.[8]

Other Realities

Months later, Psycho Man mentally controlled the crowd on Broadway. He made his way to Times Square enjoying his adulation from Enid Richards and the rest of the mentally controlled masses. Eventually, he was confronted by the Fantastic Four.[10]

In this reality, Electro came here to gather some electrical power, not knowing how to control his powers. As he started absorbing the area's electricity via a power cord, the police and Spider-Man arrived to stop him, but not knowing what to do, Electro accidentally got his face up on every marquee in the square and launched police cars everywhere. After Spidey saved the police officers, he tried to calm Electro down, but the media quickly focused their attention of him, enraging Electro. Electro proceeded to destroy Times Square, and was stopped when Spider-Man used a power hose on him.[11]